Influencers: The Ultimate Guide

Confused about Influencers? By the end of this guide, you won't be.

This article is letter (I) of our “Influencer Hub" series where we write an article for each letter of the phrase. “Influencer Hub" is all about the Influencer lifestyle. Find links to more articles in the series below.

Ever felt like you wanted to know something but were too afraid to ask? Or didn’t want to look like you were the only one who didn’t know what was going on? We know that feeling. Which is why we have been studying influencers – who they are, where they are, and how they gained their social influence. The team here feels it important to share what we have learned with you.

Whether you want to become an influencer, are on the look-out for an influencer to work with, or are just curious, our beginner Influencer breakdown will give you a good lay of the Social Ecosystem land.

We’re looking at Influencers by how they are mainly identified – by what platform they use, their theme, and how they monetize (make money from) their online content.

Influencer Platforms

One of the biggest misconceptions about influencers is that they are someone with a large social media following. This thinking confuses influence with popularity. The act of influencing requires a specific result: a change in thinking or behavior. An influencer, therefore, is someone who has the power to influence the perception of others or gets them to do something different.

When applying this definition to marketers, an influencer is someone who helps other people buy from you.

Here is where Influencers raise their flag. Some types of Influencer are inseparable and heavily identify with their platform (like Youtubers and Instagrammers). Other platforms merely means to an end for showcasing their content. For example, we think of bloggers as bloggers, and not so much as “Wordpressers” or “Tumblr Bloggers”

Blogs

The big kahuna. Blogs are the origin source of all Influencers after web logs became popular during the early days of the internet and transformed into what we know as a blog today. Bloggers are best friends with the written word. Some favorite platforms of bloggers are Wordpress, Tumblr, or Swomi Flyers.

Vlogs

The video version of a blog, vlogs are usually hosted on Youtube. This makers vloggers almost synonymous with a “Youtuber.” While rare, it’s still possible to find vlogs on Vimeo. Because of the immediacy of videos, there is a certain connection an audience can build with a Vlogger that may otherwise be absent with a Blogger.

Podcast

Like a radio show, but archived online, podcasts are for everyone who love to use their ears instead of their eyes. Many podcasts focus on people’s stories – one-on-one interviews, friends discussing a topic, or the podcaster’s own personal journey.

Social Media

Some Influencers side-step owning their own domain and go straight to a platform pre-connected with an audience. Instagrammers and Twitch Streamers are a typical Social Media Influencer. We really recommend Swomi Flyers for Influencers who want the win-win situation of having their own domain and a curated audience.

Forums

Forum crawlers make their strong opinions known in discussion threads like Reddit, Google Groups, Facebook Groups, and LinkedIn Groups. Active, consistent engagement is key!

Influencer Themes

The second layer of what makes an Influencer… their theme! Now, themes are endless. There is every and any kind of theme you could ever think of and beyond from Couches That Look Like Celebrities to a girl who rolls her face in bread. Some popular themes for 2018 are Travel, Fashion, and Beauty.

Influencers find their influence by laser-focusing in on a specific niche within their theme that they feel passionate about. For example, you may like travel. And what other aspects about travel can you provide that a potential target audience can relate to? Maybe you are also a veteran who loves to travel? Bam! Your niche is helping veterans enjoy their retirement with the love of travel.

Influencer Content Monetization

So how do Influencers make money by posting Content all day? If you want to be an Influencer, it’s fundamental to know how to monetize your content. And if you are looking to work with in an Influencer, it’s good to know the processes they usually work in to receive payment.

Donations

Some influencers work from donations – they provide their content without expectation and give their audience an option to donate to them through platforms like GoFundMe or Patreon.

Advertising

This is the most common way Influencers monetize their content. Page advertisements, sponsored posts, affiliate links, and sponsorships all fall under this category!

Memberships

This is more rare where Influencer provide some free Content and some exclusive members-only Content. Memberships give their audience access to this exclusive Content and are usually charged on a monthly basis.

Expert Authorities Bring Influence To The Next Level

This summer, side hustlers will be hustling, digital nomads will be wandering, and influencers will be influencing. But for influencers, spreading influence just isn’t enough these days.

Our online world is pretty jam-packed.

It is a specific challenge for every budding influencer. How to squeeze through the crowd and hop on stage, front and center for your audience?

Check out any influencer you look up to and aim to emulate – you most likely know them as The Vlogging Makeup Artist, The Number One World Travel Blogger, THE first billionaire entrepreneur. How did they rise to the top of their game and infect the hearts and minds of millions?

Why is it when we think “Entrepreneur,” you say “Richard Branson”? Or just mention “Motivational Speaking” and many minds jump to “Tony Robbins” without skipping a beat?

Let’s take a closer look.

Is there an Expert in the House?

Gary Vaynerchuk… Richard Branson… Neil Patel… the uniting thread connecting all these top-notch Influencers is their recognized Expertise in their fields.

Every one of them is an Expert. And to be an expert, they chose a niche. It’s how we associate a certain person with a specific field.

If you write, publish, post and put yourself out there consistently, you will begin to be recognized as an Expert. “I’m still new, how do I become an Expert in my field when millions of content is posted everyday?”

You can be in any niche that you choose. Simply read and learn as much as you can about it through whitepapers, other blog posts, webinars, videos, and ebooks. After that, you need to promote and expose your brand to as many new eyes as possible.

“If we can agree that every blog post is written by someone who thinks of himself as an expert in his/her own field of study, then that makes for a world full of experts.

The great dilemma experts face, is the amount of expert competition they are up against. If you consider that 2 million blog posts written every day will have at least a handful written in your niche, that means that you may end up being very low on the expert totem pole.”

A Supersized Expert With A Side Order Of Authority

There comes the dilemma – in a world of Content Creators (basically every online user), how do you be recognized as an expert? And when you finally have been recognized as an expert, how do you reach the holy grail of becoming an authority?

When you’re an authority, you are the recognized go-to person in that niche. This is the category Richard Branson, Gary Vaynerchuk, etc. are categorized under.

The tricky thing is Expert Authorities are recognized by others as expert authorities. They did not crown the title on themselves. Others gave them the title as Expert Authorities because of the sheer amount of value they provide.

To become an elusive Expert Authority, you need three things:

Time
Consistency
Exposure

It takes a long time of consistently creating and promoting content for exposure. This is the trust of other human beings we are aiming to earn here, not a quick SEO growth hack. The time and effort is well worth the trust and credibility you gain from growing into an Expert Authority.

Micro-Influencers Benefit From The Social Ecosystem

Did you know you are living within an ecosystem? And not one made of bugs and dirt or of predators and prey. Our social ecosystem is digital. You enter it every time you go online. In fact, you are in the digital ecosystem as you read this (you had to turn on your phone, desktop, or computer and access the internet to be here!)

And since you’re here – let’s get to know where we are!

Welcome.

What Is The Online Social Ecosystem?

Our digital social ecosystem is powered by Content. Content created by people. Content created by you.

Content in general tends to stay within certain hubs – groups of like-minded people that you hang out with. For example, you most likely don’t group-text family vacation pictures to your coworkers. Your family is one hub. Your coworkers are another hub. And, you guessed it, the content is your family vacation picture.

We tend to have the most influence within our hubs (social circles). In other words, we trust those closest to us. Which is not news to any of us, so there you go! You already know how the digital social ecosystem works just by sheer virtue of living it.

And because trust and influence circulate within our hubs, that makes everyone a Micro-Influencer!

Information and ideas we see on our social networks have been filtered to through our trusted friends and family.

Micro-Influencers Are Everyday People

Brands have caught on and are now recruiting everyday people to be promote their products. It is everyday people, a.k.a Micro-Influencers that have a greater influence with their community rather than celebrities. The race for authenticity has begun.

Consumers now demand greater authenticity. They’re turning to relatives (78%) and academic experts (65%), as seen by the Edelman Report. In companies employees and ambassadors (55%) receive greater consumer confidence than bosses (49%). Journalists (44%), well-known personalities (42%) and celebrities (32%) ultimately have very little influence on consumers.

Brands see the benefit in thinking smaller. Micro-Influencers make up for their smaller network with greater influence. This is more effective for achieving results compared to celebrities that have a larger reach but lesser influence.

Use Monetized Content To Live The Content Lifestyle

So what does this all mean for you? Well for one, it means you have way more influence than you thought possible! Influence that leaves brands drooling to convert you to their side.

Secondly, your content has value. Because your content is the vehicle which carries your influence across the digital social ecosystem. Online, your content is your voice.

What does your influence and your content add up to? Mix your influence and your content together and it creates a phrase we call Your Words Have Worth

Our mission is to create a new digital, social ecosystem where everyone benefits from the content they create.

When someone is able to live by monetizing their content, that person is living the Content Lifestyle. It’s a state of life where you have the freedom to pursue your life’s goals.

One example of someone living the Content Lifestyle is Brandon Stanton, creator of the project Humans of New York, a blog featuring the pictures and stories of people he meets in New York City.

Brands Like To Partner With Micro-Influencers. Why?

“Wow I should buy this foot cream because I saw George Clooney promoting it on TV last night!” - said no one ever. Not in this decade, anyway.

The process of what we buy, what content we consume, and where we focus our attention is much more organic today than times past thanks to a little thing we like to call the internet. And thanks to the internet, there’s another influence behind our decisions that we don’t notice much, but has been gaining more and more traction. They are appropriately called Micro-Influencers.

Yes, they are clogging up your social media feeds with inspirational quotes, food pics, and epic travel shots. And we love it. So how did these everyday people on social media create a whole new category of marketing (Micro-Influencer marketing) all their own?

Micro-Influencers Have Everyday Influence

Consumers are pretty savvy to the traditional marketing ways of old. We’re sure you know the name of the game when you see a commercial of Taylor Swift smiling and holding up a tube of toothpaste right before the 8am weather report.

Who watches the morning news anymore, anyway? Majority of us check our weather apps and are scrolling through our social media feeds to know what’s what in the world that day.

Micro-Influencers are promoting their brands and products in the most crowded digital space – mobile. Apps like Instagram, Snapchat, Pinterest, and Youtube are all an equal realm belonging to both the Micro-Influencer and the consumer alike.

By existing equally in the same space, we think “Hey, Chad from TravelWorldBlog is just like me. Look at this pic of him drinking his morning coffee!” We can even write them a comment on that post and Chad will usually (gasp) write a comment back.

In contrast, celebrity endorsers feel oceans away - on distant tv screens, looming billboards, and fleeting radio announcements. Micro-Influencers are right here. Cradled in your hand and at your fingertips, talking with you – a friend.

Micro-Influencers gain the trust of followers be treating them as a community, strengthening the trust people have in Micro-Influencers. The perceived closeness of the relationship makes all the difference with Micro-Influencer marketing.

Micro-Influencers Have Strong Digital Word of Mouth

So Micro-Influencers have a loyal community and achieve stellar results on their campaigns. So that must mean they have about a bajillion followers on Instagram… right?

Not so fast.

It’s a common misconception that more followers = better results. Micro-Influencers focus on quantity, not quality.

Which makes sense when you consider everyday people say they trust a micro-influencer more than they trust a celebrity or traditional advertisement.

Why is it so much easier to trust the recommendation of a Micro-Influencer more than Justin Beiber?

Micro-Influencers WANT to engage with their community. They will answer our questions, listen to our feedback, and just care more in general about the people that follow them. Micro-Influencers truly live the Content Lifestyle because they live the Swomi truth that it’s all about people.

Celebrities are too untouchable, famous, and idealized to be relatable.

But because Micro-Influencers care about their community, they can better leverage their digital word of mouth – an influential power we all share. Just some of us exercise our voices more than others.

Micro-Influencers are Budget Friendly

To top it all off, partnering with Micro-Influencers has the added benefit of being easy on the wallet. Not many of us have an extra several million dollars for Kanye West to promote our startup app.

So how do you start connecting with Influencers? Naturally, start looking at your own social media followers, relevant hashtags, and check out who the top bloggers are. There are also great tools like BuzzSumo, Markerly, Insightpool, Ninja Outreach, and Followerwonk to try. For an automated service that connects your Content to a pre-qualified, eager audience, try out our Swomi.

Are You A Micro-Influencer? (Hint: Yes!)

Left or right? Blue or Red? Supersized or not supersized? When it comes to those little decisions you can’t seem to make up your mind about, who do you turn to?

We all need that small little nudge sometimes. And in our experience, it is the people closest to us that we turn to. It’s a two way street. Friends ask us when they need a second opinion too.

Funny enough, research backs up our experiences. We are more likely to make a purchase when someone we know gives us a recommendation.

Thanks to social media and the interconnected accessibility of the internet, everyone now has their own sphere of influence. You can influence not just one friend at one time, but your entire network simultaneously.

That’s what we like to call a Micro-Influencer.

Influence online relates to how well you can capture and maintain people’s attention. Now everyday people have this level of power. At minimum, all you need is a social media account. And if you’re feeling extra passionate about what you’re talking about, you can even get a blog or vlog.

The most successful influencers treat their followers as a community, not an audience.

What’s the difference? To have an audience implies two uneven playing fields – a stage where an influencer performs for a faceless audience watching from a distance.

On the other hand, viewing followers as a community suggests a more level playing field and, well, communal feeling. Can a team exist without willing people? That’s a solid no.

People are most won over by personalized and relevant content. This is important because the internet is jam-packed with content already. And a lot of that is really good content too.

How many times has it happened where you bookmarked a cool blog post to read it later? And you find another great blog post. Bookmark. Another one. Bookmark.

Aaand by the end of the day...there are about fifty posts, infographs, videos you want to check out. Woops. What are the chances you will engage with the content that is personalized to you?

It’s the exact same concept of why quizzes are so popular (and fun) – they teach your community about their most favorite subject – themselves (not in a selfish way though).

Which goes back to why providing value to your community is so important. People value content that is relevant to them and their lives. There’s too much content out there to sift through. Let’s speak with each other, not at each other.

Word Up:

Micro-Influencers are just like us. And that’s what makes them so darn likable. We tend to listen to the advice to people we like. What does this all add up to? Stronger relationships – the basis for sales.

Influencers live the Content Lifestyle – a life where you are free to pursue your dreams, thanks to being supported from receiving the benefits of your online content.

To receive value from your Content with automation technology, try Swomi as another avenue for reaching a curated audience for your blog. Reach out to us today!

(I)nfluencers: The Ultimate Guide

(N) Looking For Influencers? 6 (N)etworks To Find Them

(F)undamentals of Being an Influencer

(L) A Day In The (L)ife Of An Influencer

(U)tilize Marketing Tools To Build An Influence Empire

(E) The (E)xpertise Behind Influencer Marketing

(N) What Is (N)eat And Scruffy Artificial Intelligence?

(C)ontent Creators Are Influencers

(E) Raise Your Brand (E)quity With Influencers

(R)each Influencers Who Will Amplify Your Content

(H)ow To Connect And Build Relationships With Influencers

(U)nderstanding Affluent Influencers A.K.A “The Affluencer”